


Between a Past and a Present

by theladyscribe



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-27 20:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8416399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theladyscribe/pseuds/theladyscribe
Summary: To get to Giza from Cairo proper, they have to cross the Kobri Kasri al-Nil.Susan hates the bridge, with its lions guarding the entrance. Their eyes seem to follow her whenever she passes by them, their stern gazes sharp knives between her shoulders.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thisisthemorning](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisthemorning/gifts).



> Dear thisisthemorning, I, too, never tire of stories about Susan after The Last Battle. I hope you like this.
> 
> Title is from "Arooh li Meen?" ("Who Could I Go To?) by Oum Kalthoum. You can listen to a live version of it [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43ZHN5XioFg).

Lizzie's family takes Susan with them to Cairo for the holidays, to "escape the London winter," though Susan knows it's so she doesn't have to spend her first Christmas without her family in a city filled with reminders of them. They stay at the Windsor Hotel and eat ice cream at J. Groppi and shop in the Khan el-Khalili, and it's a marvelous time, the sort of adventure Susan has always loved.

Cairo reminds her of Calormen, the few times she visited it in the brief periods of peace with Narnia. Though the cacophony of voices is in a different language and the food is not quite as splendid as the feasts served in the palace of Tashbaan, the beauty of the architecture and the layer of dust that clings to everything are much the same. Susan is certain that if she were to lose herself in the alleys of the Khan el-Khalili, she could walk right into the streets of Tashbaan and be none the wiser.

She imagines herself losing Lizzie in the crowd and doing just that, but she cannot quite bring herself to attempt it, afraid of success and failure alike.

*

When the family goes to see the pyramids, they take a taxi, everyone crowding into the cab so they only have to take the one. It reminds Susan of the rides she used to take with her siblings, before Peter was old enough to drive them, the four of them crammed together so tightly that no one could move.

To get to Giza from Cairo proper, they have to cross the Kobri Kasri al-Nil.

Susan hates the bridge, with its lions guarding the entrance. Their eyes seem to follow her whenever she passes by them, their stern gazes sharp knives between her shoulders. Susan would like nothing more than to take an axe to each one, to gouge out their eyes and cut off their heads.

She holds her breath as they pass between the twin statues and doesn't let it go until the matched set on the other side are behind them.

"Why, Susan," Lizzie's mother says, "you've gone pale as a ghost!"

"Just a bit faint," she lies. "I'm sure it's the heat."

Lizzie's mother purses her lips in concern but instructs their driver to roll down the windows.

*

They spend the day in the long shadow of the Great Pyramid, eating a picnic lunch and watching other tourists take photographs and attempt to climb the stones.

Mr. and Mrs. McMillan leave early, wanting to have time for a rest before dinner. After they're gone, Lizzie's brother convinces Lizzie and Susan to ride a camel, and Susan has such a grand time that she almost forgets about the lions at the bridge.

At the end of the day, the three of them climb into another cab, still brushing sand from their hair. They pass by the Sphinx as the car speeds down the hillside, and Susan remembers the bridge.

"Do you think we might take the long way back?" she asks Lizzie and George. "The sun will be setting soon, and I do so want to see the lights along the river."

Lizzie and George agree wholeheartedly, and George instructs the driver to take them along the Corniche instead of to Kasri al-Nil.

*

That night, Susan dreams that one of the lions jumps down from its pedestal and comes to sit outside her window. It watches her, unblinking, until dawn, when it vanishes with the rising sun.

*

She has the same dream for three nights, and on the third night, Susan climbs out of bed to stand at her window. The lion sits in the street, staring up at the window.

"What do you want from me?" she asks.

The lion shakes its bronze mane and doesn't answer.

"If you won't tell me, then go away," Susan says, putting as much royal command into her statement as she can. "I haven't time for you, and I won't let you hold me prisoner."

The lion cocks its head this time before turning and stalking off into the night.

*

In the morning, Lizzie wants to go back to the Khan, their last chance before they return to England. Susan agrees, though she dreads having to cross the bridge so soon after her dreams.

When their cab comes to the bridge, Susan closes her eyes, only to open them again when Lizzie gasps.

"Susan! Look!"

Susan turns to see what could possibly have Lizzie in such shock and gasps in surprise herself. Where there once were two lions, a matched set, one on either side of the bridge, there is now only one.

*

The Khan el-Khalili bustles with activity, shopkeepers hocking their wares. It doesn't hold quite so much magic for Susan today, a sense of foreboding clouding her mood. Lizzie doesn't seem to notice, flitting from one shop to the next, in search of trinkets to take home to their friends.

From the corner of her eye, Susan catches a flash of movement, the spark of a bronzed tail as it disappears around a corner.

"Lizzie, I'll be just a moment," she says. She thinks Lizzie nods in assent, but Susan has a singular focus now.

She follows the flicker and flash through the maze of the Khan, always half a step behind the bronze lion from the bridge, until it disappears entirely.

She stops and realizes she is well and truly lost. The shops surrounding her are no longer the familiar vendors selling scarves and papyrus to tourists. The alleyways have changed, the colors more vibrant, the smell of the spices sharper.

The noise has changed, too. Susan realizes, suddenly, that she cannot hear the sound of car horns. The languages spoken around her are still foreign, but they don't have the same tenor as the Arabic she has become accustomed to.

Susan walks up to a shopkeeper selling dainty slippers in blues and golds. "Excuse me," she says in English, "I seem to be lost."

The woman frowns at her. "Telmarine?" she asks, in Calormene, Susan realizes.

Susan's stomach lurches, but the woman doesn't sound hostile, merely curious. "Yes," Susan says, smiling helplessly. "Can you — can you point me toward the palace?"

The woman gives her directions, though she seems a bit bemused that Susan wants to go to the palace. Susan thanks her and starts down the street, looking around at the shops and the bright colors and the bustle again. Things are different than the last time she was here. The city has changed, or maybe it hasn't changed yet. She wonders if the rulers of Calormen know of the Pevensies, if her name will carry any weight, or if she will simply be a stranger from a foreign country.

She doesn't know; it will have to be an adventure.

**Author's Note:**

> As far as I am aware, none of the lions at the Kobri Kasri al-Nil have ever jumped down from their pedestal to lead someone back to Narnia, but there's a first time for everything.


End file.
